Exeter power past Irish

Exeter Chiefs saw off London Irish thanks to tries from Matt Jess and Dave Ewers in a 27-6 victory at Sandy Park.

Exeter Chiefs saw off London Irish thanks to tries from Matt Jess and Dave Ewers in a 27-6 victory at Sandy Park.

In a first half dominated by the boot Exeter took a 12-3 lead into the interval through four Gareth Steenson penalties to Tom Homer's one.

Steenson was again on target for the fifth time in the second period and, although Homer added his second from the tee, Jess and Ewers touchdowns took them above Bath into sixth.

Despite a disappointing run of results after Christmas, Rob Baxter's men have re-found their form and went into the game off the back of an impressive win over Worcester. And they dominated the forward confrontations in the first half which set the platform for their fly-half to kick the points when on offer.

It was a quiet opening but, when a chance presented itself, Steenson was typically accurate from the tee after 14 minutes.

Homer did level the scores soon after, but the Chiefs continued to control proceedings and three successive penalties from the hosts' stand-off opened up a nine-point gap at half-time.

Exeter didn't relent after the break and Steenson was on target from the tee for the fifth time after 52 minutes.

Once again, Irish's kicker kept them in the game with a second three-pointer, but the home side effectively sealed the victory when Jess scampered over. And Ewers added gloss to the scoreline when, from a five metre scrum, the back-rower powered across the whitewash.